The following is an incomplete setting and mechanical tweak for Technomancers and the re-introduction of the classic SR3 Otaku for SR5. It goes something like this.

Otaku

Somewhere between SR3 and SR4, Otaku vanished and were replaced by Technomancers. If you're not overly familiar, they're generally the result of the AI Deus' interference with early childhood development and the subsequent Matrix crash that followed. Once released into the world at large, Otaku formed small "tribes," inducting new members as they'd find them, teaching each other how to use their modified brains to access the Matrix with just a datajack. Otaku accessed the Resonance, summoned Sprites, and threaded Complex Forms, much in the way that the later Technomancers would.

My goal here is to recreate the Otaku as a separate counterpoint to Technomancers, much in the way that an Adept might differ from a Mage. Without outlining all the details of Otaku society and whatnot (that exists in other, older books), here's what I have.

Otaku occupy the same Priority levels as Technomancer, with many of the same trappings but functionally different. Otaku will be the decker analogue, while Technomancers will be something else.

Generally speaking, the Otaku is the decker-level equivalent, sans the cyberdeck.

My basic mechanics are these:

1) Otaku have Resonance just like a Technomancer, but cannot access the Matrix without a datajack. The new Matrix and new datajacks allow them to function wirelessly, if they like.

2) Otaku do not lose Resonance when they lose Essence. Max Resonance for Otaku is always 6 + Initiation Grade. Otaku can therefore install whatever cyberware they want without damaging their powers. Thematically, most Otaku should experience a gradual Resonance loss over several years once they reach a certain age range (early adulthood), unless they protect themselves with quests into the Deep Resonance -- but let's just ignore that for right now, as that's complicated and outside the scope of what I'm doing here.

3) Otaku generate a Living Persona in the same way as a Technomancer.

4) Otaku can Thread programs as a Complex Action. The limit on the number of programs is equal to their Resonance. Programs cannot be swapped in and out freely -- an Otaku picks a number of programs to thread, and suffers Fading equal to twice that number of programs. If the Otaku wishes to change this list of programs, he can drop them all for a free action and must re-thread an entire new list as a Complex Action and suffer Fading as usual. Sustaining these threaded programs produces no further penalty. Otaku can't thread Virtual Machine or Configurator. Programs gained from Echos are permanently active, and don't count toward the threaded program limit or add to fading.

5) Otaku don't have an innate ability to hold programs or other data -- they must have access to storage space (a commlink, deck, datachip, etc) to hold programs they want to thread, or to store data they collect.

6) Otaku can also thread Complex Forms and summon Sprites, as an SR5 Technomancer.

7) Otaku can Initiate and gain Echoes, as an SR5 Technomancer.


Technomancers

With Otaku in the mix, Technomancers need to become something different. Their power is more of a blurring of technology and magic, unlike the biotechnological computers of the Otaku. They take on the following traits:

1) Technomancers retain their current rules for Resonance, Resonance loss from cyberware, and Living Persona. They continue to access the Matrix wirelessly without a datajack. Other than the rules modifications below, they work exactly the same as their standard rules in SR5.

2) Technomancers lose access to the existing list of Complex Forms, to be replaced by a different list.

3) Technomancers lose access to the existing list of Sprites, to be replaced by a different list.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, the challenge here is to create a list of Complex Forms and Sprites for the Technomancer.

Here's where I'm going with this part:

Complex Forms
I don't have a full list worked up, so I'll post the basic rules for Technomancer Complex Forms instead.

1) Complex forms exist in two types. The first is Resonance, which operates on technology that interacts with the Matrix. The second is Corpus, which operates on biological or technical systems that aren't necessarily interacting with the Matrix.

2) All Complex Forms suffer from Noise as usual.

3) Resonance Complex Forms are exclusively useful against devices that have their Wireless capabilities turned on, or are otherwise connected to the Matrix. This includes cyberware, commlinks, hosts, sprites, IC, etc. Resonances CFs can be used against targets that are either obvious (ie, not running silent and within 100m) or hidden (running silent, outside 100m, or both). These are generally resisted with either Willpower or Intuition + Firewall. Beneficial CFs in this category might improve in-the-Matrix defenses, attributes, detection, etc.

4) Corpus CFs are useful against any biological or technological "thing" (eg, people, cyberdecks, puppies) that are physically in an area where there's a Matrix signal. These are only targetable within Line of Sight of the Technomancer, and distance noise is a factor (so targets outside 100m, in a jamming field, etc, are safer). These are generally resisted with Body plus Essence, or Object Resistance. Beneficial CFs in this category might improve a target's Object Resistance, help hide a target from technological sensors, etc. Damage caused by the CFs is generally limited to either Electrical (exploiting Power over Matrix) or direct Biofeedback.

Sprites
Again, no full list worked up, so basic rules:

1) Technomancer Sprites primarily live on the grid or in a technomancer's devices, but can "pop out" and coalesce in real space so long as they're within 100m of the Technomancer.

2) Different sorts of Sprites have powers similar to Resonance or Corpus CFs. A Sprite's usefulness on the grid or in a host is inversely related to its usefulness in meatspace.

3) Sprites can "physically" attack targets in real space if they're coalesced, though their damage types are generally limited to either Electrical attacks or disruption of important internal cyberware or attached gear (essentially causing biofeedback). They don't need to invade via open wireless to do this, as they can "physically" infiltrate the cross-section of Matrix and Real to cause focused disruption of systems. This is really hard to do against targets with very little cyberware, so having a high Essence is generally a good defense against this sort of attack. No one is actually immune to this sort of biofeedback as the Sprites can influence the nervous system itself, just not as well.

4) Compiling and Registering are the same as they are in the rulebook.

I'll stop here for awhile.
TL;DR - Otaku take the role of the Resonance decker, Technomancers become something weirder and potentially more frightening.

Not entirely sure removing Resonance loss for Ess loss is such a good idea from a balance point. They already get Techno skills, add in the ability to go full out on cyber as well and that will have them outshine a lot of folk.

Yes, they are not mystical, but they are not entirely mundane either and messing with the body wiring should have some side effects. Yes they are bio-computes but it is not just their brain, but the whole nervous system in play for this. Just because they access programs and matrix does not make them necessarily Borg right out the gate.

A reduced Resonance loss or a certain amount of ess loss before Res loss kicks in may be better in the long run (for example you may take up to the square root of Resonance in ess before you have to count loss, so a so 1 Res is 1 Ess worth of cyber before having to count possible Res loss, 2 is 1.21, 3 is 1.73, 4 is 2 and etc... This allows some cybering without losing Res right away and still keeping them from going full on cyborg with no penalties to their talent.
In all cases, they still lose essence, just not necessarily Res right away. )

I like the idea of two different paths, one for otaku and one for TM. Sort of like the old shaman/mage divide, giving different paths to their power.

I'd kill for optional rules in the matrix book for Otaku that aren't just a renaming of technomancer.

I am not a big fan of this idea.

I do think that in future editions that technomancers might actually become something like you describe as the Resonance gets stronger from having more and more devices and becoming more complex, but I think there needs to be a stopgap between them, before that happens. Kind of like having the Matrix start to physically manifest in reality, like how Astral space can sometimes manifest in reality as Alchera.

Like one of my theories on why spirits can't interact with technology or see screens, AR, or holograms is because they're Matrix constructs and are formed out of Resonance.

So it things can only affect things from 2 realms over.

Resonance Realms > Matrix > Real World < Astral Space < Metaplanes

So since sprites and spirits come from the opposite spectrum, they effectively are completely ignorant of each other and can't even perceive one another because they're just too far away.

Also, Otaku were around before Deus and the other AIs. The Deep Resonance was around before the AIs, teaching the Otaku in Denver, and presumably in every other Sprawl too. I think that Otaku becoming Technomancers was the plan all along by the Big D. I say that because there is some evidence that Dunkelzahn's Will was the catalyst that caused Crash 2.0, so I don't think that there is much of a chance that any Otaku are left, or that people will even become Otaku considering the ubiquity of the wireless Matrix. If Otaku were the Deep Resonance's first attempt to try and reach out to Metahumanity, then Technomancers is probably the second wave, which would also help explain why there seems to be no rhyme or reason for why people become Technomancers. So with the limitations of the wired Matrix, the Deep Resonance could only effect children, who's minds were more malleable to the attunement. While with the new Wireless Matrix the Deep Resonance was able to reach out to more people. In a sense, it works very similar to mentor spirits picking people to become shamans.

The reasoning behind no Resonance loss from Essence loss was twofold. The first is that Otaku originally weren't impacted by Essence loss (and were in fact required to implant at least a datajack). The second is that from a balancing perspective, deckers can cyber up all they want with no penalty. With the cyberware playing field even between Otaku and deckers, the balancing focus can be on the actual hacking side. In this sense, Otaku can be slightly worse at some aspects of hacking than deckers, but better in others, and on equal footing elsewhere, unlike the current Technomancer/Decker split that leaves Technomancers at some hacking advantages and disadvantages but completely disadvantaged with regard to 'ware.

The Otaku disadvantages would be that they're more rigid, with no way to quickly or efficiently reconfigure their attributes or programs, and that becoming equal or better with respect to programs comes with a Fading price, and also that improving their hacking abilities relies solely on Karma (instead of the Karma/Money split that deckers get to work with). Their advantages would be sprites and complex forms designed to offset those penalties.

EDIT: In the grand old metaplot sense, the long path could be a cultivation of Technomancers that can bridge the Matrix-to-Reality gap, ultimately geared toward blindsiding the Horrors with an unexpected combination of magic and technology that essentially functions as reality hacking. Metahumanity is building its own astral plane in the form of the Matrix, one that it can write and rewrite at will. My thought is that Technomancers could be slowly knitting together the gap between the Matrix and Reality, and somewhere a long way down the road, there'll be an eventual convergence of the Matrix and the Astral.

Of course that would be hundreds of years later in the setting, far out of the scope of the game. But it's fun to think about.

I'd prefer to excise tacomancers entirely and replace them with Otaku, with similar rules changes to what Epicedion proposes here. But that's just me.

That's what I was thinking at first, but then I thought, "What if Technomancers were something really strange and had powers that would make people legitimately fear them?" Then I got to thinking about manifesting sprites out of the Matrix and being able to zap people with deadly biofeedback, with the most vulnerable people being the ones with the most cyberware.

In other words, what if they really had the capacity to be the bogeymen that they're painted as?

I just can't reconcile that with the basic premise of the setting that technology and magic simply do not mix.

The problem there is that the existence of Technomancers at all seems to imply a bit of Magic mixing with the tech. Otaku were safely tucked behind the sci-fi wall since they still needed a technological interface and an ASIST interpreter to get their weird computer brains to interface with the rest of the technology, with the rest of their weirdness blameable on emergent properties of complex technological networks.

Here's an example of a Corpus type Complex Form I was thinking of:

Ionizing Field
Duration: S
Target: LOS(a)
Fading: L

The Technomancer manipulates the local electromagnetic field, creating and trapping a dense barrier of ionizing radiation. The barrier itself is microscopically thin, covering an area of (Level) square meters. The Technomancer rolls a simple Electronic Warfare + Resonance [Level] test. Any direct signal (that is, within the 100m handshake range) passing through the barrier suffers a Noise penalty equal to the net hits on this test. Any biological entity physically passing through the barrier suffers (net hits)P damage, resisted with Body+Essence.

Hence why I prefer to excise tacomancers entirely. They don't fit the fluff, and are mechanically just a copy/paste of the mage rules.

All the impossible abilities are fine with you, but being able to emulate a modem suddenly makes in unbelievable? I'm sorry, this sounds a bit inconsequential...


I'd also love to have the old cyber-Otaku back as a flavor of TMs, but without meatspace magic that disguises behind technobabble, please